Boy Scouts of America troop members attend a Memorial Day weekend commemorative event in Los Angeles, California, in this May 25, 2013 file photo.REUTERS

The Boy Scouts of America’s new fitness standards for participating in the organization’s annual Jamboree are so rigorous they would not just exclude chubby tenderfoots — they would even bar many NFL players.

All Scouts were required to have a physical exam in advance of the Jamboree and those with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or greater were barred from participating at this year’s gathering, which features strenuous activities such as hiking, rock climbing, rappelling and biking. Scouts with BMIs between 32 and 39.9 had to provide additional health information to take on the 1,000-plus acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia. But critics told FoxNews.com excluding obese Boy Scouts goes against the spirit of the organization.

Patricia Bannon, a registered dietician and author of “Eat Right When Time Is Tight,” told FoxNews.com she found no issue with the guidelines, but said those who were excluded from the fitness competition should still be allowed to participate in some modified way.

“I’m sure they put a lot of thought into this and consulted with medical experts,” Bannon said. “But a BMI of 39.9 or higher is really high. The obesity rating for BMI is actually 30 or greater and in comparing them to NFL players, those NFL players are very likely to have very high muscle mass. And since BMI is a calculation of weight to height, it’s not a very good indicator for people who are athletes. These children with 39.9 or higher BMIs are probably not coming from a high muscle density.”

But severely overweight and obese Scouts should still be able to participate in some “altered” kind of competition if they are deemed unfit for the Jamboree, Bannon said.